Lezli Baskerville

In 2004, civil rights attorney Lezli Baskerville was appointed president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). As NAFEO’s fifth president, Baskerville has been its first female CEO of the national membership association of the nation’s 105 historically Black colleges and universities and 50 predominantly Black institutions. Prior to her selection, she had served as NAFEO’s pro bono outside counsel for 20 years, executive director of the National Black Leadership Roundtable, appellate counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and vice president of the College Board. Among Baskerville’s achievements while at NAFEO are her development of a national strategy that increased by nearly $1 billion federal funding for HBCUs and PBIs, and her engagement of 25,000 HBCU and PBI students in a letter-writing campaign that thwarted congressional efforts to eviscerate funding for HBCUs and MSIs. Baskerville received her bachelor’s degree from Douglass College in New Jersey and a law degree from Howard University.